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Welcome to COWS
COWS is a national policy center and field laboratory for high-road economic development — a competitive market economy of shared prosperity, environmental sustainability, and capable democratic government.
COWS work is collaborative, experimental, and evidence-driven. Working with business, government, labor, and communities, we try out new ideas, test their effectiveness, and disseminate those with promise. We believe that the best way to predict the future is to start making it, particularly in our states and metro regions.
Some areas of COWS' program focus are:
- Economic and workforce development
- Sectoral strategies and career pathways
- Clean energy and energy efficiency
- Labor markets and job improvement
- Strategies for improving low-wage work
COWS is based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, famous for the “Wisconsin Idea” that the University should help informed democratic experiment. Since its founding 15 years ago, COWS has often been called “the Wisconsin Idea in action.”
COWS is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan, educational and charitable organization. Its budget comes from foundation and individual gifts and grants and technical assistance contracts.
Keeping Up with COWS
Our monthly e-newsletter, COWS Notes, is an easy way to keep informed about what's going on at COWS.
The State of Working Wisconsin
The State of Working Wisconsin tells a compelling story about the status of jobs and workers in Wisconsin. The 2008 report will be release on Sunday, August 31, 2008. Visit the State of Working Wisconsin web page for more information.
new at COWSMind the Gap! Women, Wages and the Pay Gap in Wisconsin finds that Wisconsin women of all ages and education continue to experience a substantial and persistent gender wage gap.
- read more - Skilled Workers, Quality Jobs: Meeting the Needs of Wisconsin’s Workers and Businesses addresses demographic and workforce challenges facing the state and makes a series of policy recommendations to address them. -read more- Pulling Apart: Wisconsin's Growing Income Inequality finds that the income disparity between Wisconsin's richest and poorest families continues to widen. -read more- Greener Pathways: Jobs and Workforce Development in the Clean Energy Economy explores current economic and workforce development opportunities in the clean energy economy, focusing on three leading industries: energy efficiency, wind, and biofuels. -read more- featured newsAre city worker's overpaid? List of top salaries might surprise you8/28/2008- As the City Council prepares to dive into budget talks this year, one item in particular will, as always, stand out as the costliest in the entire budget: employees' salaries. Up to 80 ... Farmer mayors: The urban agenda now includes local agriculture8/15/2008- When Mayor Dave Cieslewicz convened a meeting of the Mayors Innovation Project recently in Madison, the topic of local food was high on the agenda for the gathering of progressive-minded city offic... A future for Madison and urban America8/1/2008- When the U.S. Conference of Mayors convened in Madison a few years back, it was an uninspired event. |